Book Review: The Swan Riders by Erin Bow

Greta Stuart had always known her future: die young. She was her country's crown princess, and also its hostage, destined to be the first casualty in an inevitable war. But when the war came it broke all the rules, and Greta forged a different path.

She is no longer princess. No longer hostage. No longer human. Greta Stuart has become an AI.

If she can survive the transition, Greta will earn a place alongside Talis, the AI who rules the world. Talis is a big believer in peace through superior firepower. But some problems are too personal to obliterate from orbit, and for those there are the Swan Riders: a small band of humans who serve the AIs as part army, part cult.

Now two of the Swan Riders are escorting Talis and Greta across post-apocalyptic Saskatchewan. But Greta’s fate has stirred her nation into open rebellion, and the dry grassland may hide insurgents who want to rescue her – or see her killed. Including Elian, the boy she saved—the boy who wants to change the world, with a knife if necessary. Even the infinitely loyal Swan Riders may not be everything they seem.

Greta’s fate—and the fate of her world—are balanced on the edge of a knife in this smart, sly, electrifying adventure.

Greta has to get use to being an AI. Greta has to get use to being close to the swan riders. Greta has too many emotional memories from her life before being an AI, but she doesn't want to lose that part of herself. With Talis helping her she might just lose that part of herself.

This is an interesting concept for a story. I was intrigued by the AI and the fantasy aspects that went into this story. Being the sequel to a book the story picks up where you would want it to. You are following Greta as she becomes transformed into this AI.

This story will make you almost wish that we had the opportunity to become AI's after death, and to then become one of the swan riders. The swan riders are tough and resilient. They are the strong willed people of this earth, who then get turned into AI's who fight for the cause that they stand with.